That will certainly help, but it isn't the only factor. Entrenched views make change difficult and I wouldn't under-estimate the politics. After all, if it
With Windows being very much an entrenched viewpoint...
was just about quality, DOS would never have got off the ground. Linux in schools makes a lot of sense in a variety of situations at the desktop. In fact as a server its a bit of a "no brainer" its just lack of expertise that is slowing things down. At the desktop, it requires a targeting of technologies by application where the most used applications are served by low cost solutions freeing up money for specialist things that might well run on legacy Windows systems (Ok or new ones in some cases). With Star Office and a good web browser you have coverage of what most schools do 80% of the time in IT - I have OFSTEDed enough of them to provide a reliable sample. Most schools have machines that can do many other things but they get tied up with office and web browsing most of the time so the fact that they can run a million and 1 applications isn't actually that useful. Its just simple
Depends some of the other applications do get used fairly regularly, others of them might get a few hours usage a year. Problem is teaching staff can be very attached to certain programs... Some have functionally identical opensource replacements e.g. graph drawing and electronics stuff. But some such as Kudos don't have obvious alternatives. Whilst you can run most things with Win4Lin that costs money. And one notable thing which causes problems is the Thomas Telford GNVQ course, since it requires real player plugins and codecs (Not sure if these will work with Linux and the version of realplayer bundled with the couse dosn't work with Win4Lin because it is direct-X based. -- Mark Evans St. Peter's CofE High School Phone: +44 1392 204764 X109 Fax: +44 1392 204763